Rokt Leaders Join Wayne Gretzky and executives from Fanatics, Lowe's, Southwest Airlines and Mastercard to Discuss Leadership, Commerce Media and AI at Advertising Week New York 2026

Eight sessions across Advertising Week and The Female Quotient Lounge brought Rokt together with leaders from companies including Block, e.l.f. Beauty, American Airlines and FOX One.

NEW YORK, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Rokt, the leading ecommerce company using machine learning and AI to make the shopping experience more relevant to each customer, participated in eight panel discussions during Advertising Week New York 2026 (AWNY), held at The Penn District this week. Rokt leaders joined executives from leading retail, financial services, travel and media companies to discuss how businesses can grow revenue, earn customer trust and adapt to changes in how people discover brands. Four of those sessions took place on AWNY's main stages, while the other four were part of The Female Quotient Lounge programming on site.

"Businesses want to grow revenue from the customer relationships they've worked hard to build. That depends on making each interaction relevant to the customer," said Jon Humphrey, SVP & GM of Rokt Ads. "As AI changes how people discover brands and make decisions, relevance becomes even more important. The opportunity is to help customers find something they value and give them a reason to return."

One of the week's most anticipated moments came on Wednesday, when Humphrey joined NHL Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky and Tucker Kain, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at Fanatics, Inc., on the Great Minds Stage for a conversation about leadership. The session followed Fanatics' recent decision to select Rokt to deliver AI-powered relevance for sports fans around the world.

Elsewhere in the program, Rokt leaders sat alongside executives from Lowe's, Citi, Mastercard, e.l.f. Beauty and American Airlines, among others. Many of the discussions centered on how companies outside retail can build commerce media businesses, with other sessions taking up AI's growing influence on where and how people discover brands.

Rokt's sessions on Advertising Week New York Stages:

• Beyond the Brand: Building Partnerships Across an Entire Ecosystem (Marketplace Stage, Monday, October 5). Laura Cosgrove, SVP of Retail Partnerships at Rokt, and Lauren Copland, Ecosystem Partnership Lead at Block, discussed the evolution of the Rokt and Afterpay partnership and what it would take to extend it across Block's wider portfolio, which includes Square, Cash App and TIDAL.. Arielle Feger, Senior Analyst, Media Content at EMARKETER, moderated.
• The New Revenue Line: What Customer Attention Is Actually Worth (Media Stage, Tuesday, October 6). Erica Few, Head of FinServ Partnerships at Rokt, joined Elyse Blouin, Vice President & GM of Lowe's Media Network and Dylan Lonergan, Head of Sales at Citi Commerce Media, to look at what building a commerce media business requires once it moves beyond retail. Kerry Flynn, media reporter at Axios, moderated.
• Building the Decision Engine for Agentic Marketing (Innovation Stage, Wednesday, October 7). As AI takes on a larger role in media decisions, Rokt's Jon Humphrey sat down with Olivia Kory, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at Haus, and Annie Leanse, Senior Director, Subscriber Acquisition & Brand Media Marketing at FOX One, to discuss why attribution alone falls short and how incrementality and experimentation can inform those choices. AdExchanger reporter James Hercher moderated.
• Skating to Where the Puck Is Going: The Great One on Leadership (Great Minds Stage, Wednesday, October 7). Wayne Gretzky reflected on decades spent as a player, owner, coach and broadcaster in a conversation with Tucker Kain of Fanatics and Jon Humphrey of Rokt.

Rokt executives also spoke on the following panels in Female Quotient Lounge at AWNY on Tuesday, October 6:

• The Trust Advantage: Why Confidence Wins. Maggie Carney, Vice President of Customer Success at Rokt, spoke with Nili Klenoff, EVP of Mastercard Commerce Media; Christie Sclater, SVP of Global Marketing at Clinique; and Cass Zawadowski, Executive Creative Director of Global Brand at Lyft, about how companies earn credibility as AI changes the way people judge brands. ADWEEK's Chief Brand and Community Officer Jenny Rooney moderated.
• The Discovery Economy: Winning Before the Search. Allison Repetto, Vice President of Customer Success, Retail at Rokt, joined Sabrina Callahan, SVP, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer of Southwest Airlines and Diana Tomasetti, Senior Director, Brand & Product Marketing of Carnival Cruise Line, to unpack how consumers now find brands through AI assistants, creators and communities long before they search. Debra Aho Williamson, Founder and Chief Analyst at Sonata Insights, moderated.
• Cultural Gravity: Why Some Ideas Pull People In. Laura Cosgrove returned for a second session alongside Laurie Lam, Chief Brand Officer at e.l.f. Beauty, and Haley Paas, SVP of Media, Marketing Effectiveness & Agency Management at Verizon, examining why certain brands and ideas hold an audience long after launch. Luz Corona, Executive Director of Content at The Clios, moderated.
• The Media Shift: Following Audiences Wherever They Go. Nicolina Duhs, Head of Retail Partnerships at Rokt, discussed how brands reach audiences whose attention is spreading across more platforms with Lauren Gabriele, VP, Enterprise Business Development at TripleLift; Leslie Lee, VP of T-Mobile Advertising Solutions; and Jacs Wyatt, MD, Global Advertising at American Airlines. Brittany Thompson, VP, Head of Global Enterprise Innovation at Condé Nast moderated.

About Rokt

Rokt is the global leader in ecommerce, unlocking real-time relevance in the moment that matters most—The Transaction Moment™. Rokt's AI Brain and Ecommerce Network powers billions of transactions connecting hundreds of millions of customers, and is trusted to do this by the world's leading companies including Live Nation, Fanatics, Macy's, AMC Theatres, PayPal, Uber, Hulu, Albertsons and HelloFresh. Headquartered in New York City, Rokt has offices across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. To learn more, visit Rokt.com.

Media Contact

Tarana Mehta - SVP Marketing

tarana.mehta@rokt.com

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